Manoj Prabhakar Biography

Manoj Prabhakar is a former Test and ODI cricketer who has played for the Indian national cricket team. Manoj was born on 15th April, 1963 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Manoj successfully pursued his interests in cricket, beginning at the first-class level, and then moving on to become a regular in the Indian side since the early 1990's. The major teams that Manoj Prabhakar represented are India, Delhi and county cricket for Durham.

Manoj Prabhakar was a fiercly competitive cricketer with a �never say die' attitude, and it was this streak in him that made him a feared yet respected opponent in world cricket.

Prabhakar was effective at both Tests and limited overs form of the game. He was a dependable right-hand batsman, whose excellent defence and timed stroke play made him a capable lower-order batsman or even an effective opener. Prabhakar was also an aggressive medium-pacer, adept at swing and deceptive slower deliveries, who could bowl long spells, maintaining his consistency.

Manoj Prabhakar made his Test debut for India against England at Delhi in December 1984. Since then, he has appeared in 39 Tests, scoring 1600 runs and taking 96 wickets, his best being 6/132. Prabhakar made his one day international debut against Sri Lanka at Sharjah in April 1984.

Since then he has played 130 ODI's, scoring 1858 runs with two centuries, and taking 157 wickets, his ODI best being 5/33. He has also appeared in three consecutive Cricket World Cups, namely the 1987 World Cup as semi-finalists, the 1992 Cup Event and the 1996 Cricket World Cup, again semi-finalists.

Despite his contributions to Indian cricket, Prabhakar's dismal performance against Sri Lanka in Delhi at the 1996 Cup Event, saw him being booed by his home crowd, thus leading to his shameful exit from the international cricket arena forever.

His alleged involvement in the match-fixing controversy and his futile attempts to implicate other players as well, eventually saw him being banned from international cricket altogether. Prabhakar then entered politics, only to have an unsuccessful stand at the Parliament.

For his contributions to Indian cricket, Manoj Prabhakar was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award in 1993.